Mark Giesser's comedy, How to Build a Better Tulip, about rival botanists — one of them played by Lois Nettleton — opens June 30 after previews from June 18 at the Acorn Theatre in the Theatre Row complex.

Lois Nettleton in How to Build a Better TulipPhoto by Carol Rosegg

Nettleton, a two-time Emmy winner and a Tony Award nominee (for They Knew What They Wanted), plays a botanist in the new play loosely adapted from Alexandre Dumas' classic novel, "The Black Tulip." The staging includes American theatre royalty of sorts: Tessa Auberjonois (the daughter of actor René Auberjonois) and Prentiss Benajmin (the daughter of Paula Prentiss and Richard Benjamin) are in the troupe. The cast also includes Paul Amodeo and Mitchell Greenberg.

The comedy explores what happens when "two rival plant breeders compete to create the world's first black tulip, egged on by meddling ancestors and spies seeking weapons of mass destruction hidden behind the petunias," according to the announcement.

Giesser directs his own play, presented by Alces Productions LLC. Performances continue to July 17.